Dylan Didn’t Turn Into Evil-Demon Kid.
In spite of my initial reaction to Dylan’s using electronics at 1 a.m., he seems to be doing quite well.
First, he sat with me and discussed what happened – and shared his thoughts. He decided – on his own – to remove the offending electronic devices from his room until he thought he could better control his behavior.
This reminded me of when I would hide the box of Ho-Ho’s from myself in the back of the closet, hoping that the children would get a Ho-Ho before I ate the whole box. Sadly, my children did not actually eat a Ho-Ho until they were nearly a decade old.
So I agreed to keep his electronics in my room – but he had to put them there at 10 p.m. And thus far, he has done exactly that, every day.
Second, while still being a typical teenager, he has been setting his alarm to get out of bed – meaning that he isn’t forcing himself to stay awake at night, just because it’s summer “and I can.” And he gets up and spends the day with us.
Third, Dylan didn’t turn into evil-demon kid, like he has been known to do in the past, especially when I would enforce a rule he didn’t like. Instead, he went right back to doing his best – and succeeding.
In other words, Dylan is – gosh – growing up! And he’s doing it very, very nicely.
I’m not sure if this is a temporary thing. I know he is just beginning the nightmarish teenage years. But Dylan has taken a pretty rough patch and turned it into a life-altering experience – on his own. He has been consistenly and optimistically doing things with his brother, with the family, and with his friends that are positive experiences.
And he’s acting like …
Like …
An adult.
Dylan is making decisions – not all the time, but most of the time – that are based on doing the right thing, rather than doing whatever he wants to do. He’s taking care of himself, eating well, taking his vitamins, getting enough (and not too much) sleep. Heck, he even has a job – a story for another day.
He’s still a teenager, and he wants way more sugar than he needs. (Don’t we all? It’s probably because of the Great Ho-Ho Denial in the early 2000’s.)
But Dylan is choosing, more often than not, to do better than he used to do. In fact, he’s doing better than I used to do.
And I could not be more proud.